How Stevie Nearly Lost the War and Other Postwar Stories — Marc Levy

The war, Stevie is told, with its white-tailed rockets and hard crack ricochets; the war, with its thumping whirl of trembling choppers; the war, with its shirtless gun crews manning steel wheeled cannons; the war, with its fine plumed shells cutting silver arcs through infinite sky; the war, with its lumbering tanks and sun bleached bunkers; the war, with its steep, lush highlands, emerald lattice of checkerboard paddies; the war, with its mangled torsos triaged too late; the war, he is told on scheduled clinic days, had ended quite some time ago. So begins the title story of this debut collection of post war stories by award winning writer and Vietnam vet Marc Levy. Through travel tales, reunions, war dreams, work days, love and desire, at home or abroad, the jungles of Vietnam are everywhere and nowhere. Levy's splendid use of place and lively cast of characters make for vivid and occasionally disturbing stories tinged by war and its aftermath.